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Form Follows Function: Embrace Possibility — IZ Adaptive update

July 14, 2014

IZ Adaptive LogoThe word “fashion” often conjures up images of runways and of models with perfect bodies. Izzy Camillieri, owner and designer of IZ Adaptive, left that world to turn her talents to making clothing for people with disabilities. In doing so, she has reimagined the field of clothing design, putting function first while also celebrating form. Her innovative designs, which combine traditional patterns with the needs of her clients, are being honored in a six-month exhibit at the Textile Galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum.

IZ Adaptive has progressed considerably since SMG first featured the company in December 2011. Izzy relates that, since that time, her website and Toronto store “have continuously added new items to the line, expanding new offerings for both men and women.” Improvements have come through being attentive and persistently trying new things. “The learning is continuous,” says Izzy, “listening to the needs of my clients.” She listens to their pocketbooks as well. “We see our line as mid-range in price.”

It’s no surprise that Izzy’s business has grown in the past few years, providing as it does a unique line of clothing to be best enjoyed from a wheelchair. “Knowing how underserved this market has been,” Izzy relates, “inspires us to make the best choices for our customers and business.” She is always on the qui vive for new materials and designs, seeking better ways to meet client needs. Says Izzy, “Our commitment continuously deepens each and every day.”

Dr. Alexandra Palmer, the Nora E. Vaughan Fashion Costume Senior Curator in the ROM’s World Cultures department, serves as curator for IZ Adaptive’s ROM exhibit. Palmer notes that she was motivated to collaborate on the fashion showcase because “Izzy’s perspective on clothing is radically different.
“Everyone looks at fashion, the creation of clothing, in a vertical way,” Palmer explains. “How the clothing will look on a standing person. Izzy thinks about how it will look and feel when the wearer is sitting or lying down.”

A Natural Fit

Palmer first learned of Izzy’s work by browsing her Toronto boutique. “I walked into her store in the Junction section of Toronto just to see the new shop,” Palmer relates.  Palmer says she was particularly struck by the similarity in what was done historically with patterns to what  Izzy is doing now. A fashion historian, Palmer not only specializes in trousers but also teaches a class on their history. She soon realized that Izzy’s fashiona designs and the Textile Galleries of the ROM would be a natural fit.

3 women in wheel chairs sitting around a table conversing wearing IZ Adaptive designs

Palmer characterizes Izzy’s work as “very important,” even “transformative.” Why? Her emphasis is on creating designs that make customers feel good about themselves, not just prioritizing ease of medical access or emphasizing caregiver assistance for dressing.

“She tries to solve physical function issues with the clothes while producing fashionable items,” Palmer notes, “and the result is her line of very clever clothes. They look nice. But while they may not seem not extraordinary, they are extraordinary.”

The IZ Adaptive line has not gone unnoticed by the fashion community, either. “Izzy has been called ‘Canada’s most PC (Perfectly Cut) fashion designer’ for good reason,” Palmer relates. “She has broken new ground by designing and creating pieces for maximum comfort, ease, and style for those who have traditionally had difficulty finding clothing that is affordable and that fits.”

While accessibility advancements have been made for people with disabilities in many areas, the need for adaptive clothing had been largely overlooked until Izzy’s line made its debut. Since off-the-rack clothing is worn sitting down or standing up, designers before Izzy didn’t consider the impact of sitting as a person’s only position in the way clothes hang on the body.

For example, Palmer notes the case of a young man who uses a wheelchair but who has to travel quite a bit for business. Before purchasing trousers from IZ Adaptive, he had to worry about his trousers bunching up or falling down whenever he transferred to an airplane seat. Now, he reports, can travel in comfort, without worrying about his trousers falling to his ankles.

With a designer’s steady eye for fashion and trends, Izzy incorporates the latest colors, quality fabrics, and durable materials as she shapes her designs. “We are constantly listening, learning and inspired by the needs and desires of our clients,” she says. “Details of easier closures and ease of dressing are always top of my mind.”

Her website is full of testimonials from people with disabilities who have found her products comfortable, practical, and fun to wear. SMG’s own CEO Carmen Jones is a particular fan of the IZ adaptive coats. Izzy comments, “Our pants and coats are our most frequently purchased items.” Although children’s styles are unavailable as of yet, Izzy notes that “as soon as they are teenagers, they can fit into our smaller adult sizes.”

Striking a Pose

The shop in Toronto, the IZ Adaptive website, and the museum exhibit all display Izzy’s designs on fiberglass “Mannequals” that show how the clothing looks from a seated position. An innovation in the world of fashion, the “Mannequal” was the focus of an national advertising campaign in England four years ago. It was designed by artist, activist, and model Sophie Morgan. A paraplegic after a 2003 car accident, Morgan has continued with a career, often bringing disability issues to the foreground in her role as BBC television presenter. You can learn more about the “Mannequal” at www.mannequal.co.uk or on Sophie Morgan’s own site at www.sophiemorgan.com.

Once customers see designs at IZ Adaptive that they like, they can follow detailed directions on how to measure for and order the items. Izzy notes that, while she does have a physical location in Toronto, “our location is not really a store but a showroom where we serve our clients. All of our samples are there for clients to order from. We have not needed the space to expand.”

3 men in wheel chairs playing basketball wearing IZ Adaptive designs

Izzy credits an enhanced web presence, new images of actual clients modeling the collection, videos about the history of the line, and videos highlighting the features of the clothing all with contributing to an increase in sales. Social media, bloggers, mailing lists, and mainstream marketing efforts help as well. She notes that IZ adaptive has been actively working with organizations to help spread the word about the clothing line.

She is also implementing good old-fashioned low shipping fees. “We have just introduced free shipping for orders over $100 in North America,” Izzy reports, “and a $30 flat fee for orders over $150 for international orders.” While most of IZ Adaptive’s sales come from the United States, customers in Canada and Australia make up a sizable portion of her shoppers as well.

Future of the Line

The ROM exhibit, called Fashion Follows Form, runs until the end of 2014 and spotlights the unique and innovative features of the collection. As a point of comparison, 18th and 19th century clothing designed for sitting will be featured as well. Izzy says, “The exhibit will also feature some of my past high-end fashion design work, to show and demonstrate my background and roots.”
Palmer adds, “We hope this exhibition inspires visitors to think about the role fashion plays in our daily lives as well as the historical relationship between fashion and function.”

Izzy says, “We want wheelchair users, their families, and caregivers to know that our line of clothing is a better alternative to mainstream, standing-frame cut clothing. These clothes are easier to put on, save time while dressing, and make dressing easier for both wearer and dresser. Our line allows for all-day comfort, without style being sacrificed. I often explain that the line is secondary to what it delivers in terms of dignity, sense of self, inclusion, and peace of mind.”

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Tags: adaptive clothing, inlusion, IZ Adaptive, Izzy Camilleri

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Wheels in Style—Adaptive clothing from Izzy Camilleri

December 1, 2011

By Joan Leotta

Izzy Camilleri

Izzy Camilleri, Canadian fashion designer. Camilleri broke new ground with what is the world’s first line of everyday adaptable clothing for a “seated” clientele.

What can you have in common with movie glitterati Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, and Meryl Streep or hunks Mark Wahlberg and David Bowie? You, too, can look great in clothes designed by Izzy Camilleri — even from a seated position.

Camilleri, a Toronto-based designer, understands that everyone wants clothing that is professional, sophisticated, and sometimes sexy yet also totally wearable. In 2009, she debuted the IZ Adaptive Collection for people with disabilities. Available online at www.izadaptive.com, the Izzy Camilleri Adaptive Clothing line features a multitude of fashionable day and evening pieces. Shoppers in Toronto can browse her collection in an accessible retail space where wheelchair users can maneuver freely. The dressing room in the Toronto showroom is equipped to handle chair movement, and the staff is well versed in approaching wheelchair users to discuss modifications that may be needed to fit items more specifically to individual customers.

How IZ Adaptive evolved

Camilleri started her own design collection right after her graduating from Ontario’s Fashion Technique and Design Programme at Sheridan College in 1983. After ten years, she began providing custom design for the Canadian film and television industry. Her work brought her into the United States as a stylist on feature films, television, commercials, and music videos.

A friend familiar with her work asked her to design and make a shearling cape for Barbara Turnbull, a journalist who has been a paraplegic since her youth. Camilleri says, “It was then that I first became aware that there was a whole group of women who didn’t have access to the kind of clothing I made.” Through her connection to Turnbull, Camilleri learned about issues that people who use a chair have with clothing — putting items on and off, finding clothes that look good from a seated position but do not interfere with wheelchair mechanics, and fitting into fashionable choices that are suitable for the workplace.

Examples of adaptive clothing

Designing clothing for Turnbull set a whole design revolution in motion for Camilleri. If one wheelchair user was grateful for custom-fitted clothing, what about the rest of the seated community?

“Barbara held a focus group of women in wheelchairs, and I learned about issues that I had not even suspected!” Camilleri relates. “There were so many distinct needs that at first I did not think I could create a dress line that solved all of the issues that each person had expressed.” While continuing to design for Turnbull, Camilleri also began making custom clothing for another woman in a wheelchair. As a result of that experience, she says, “I began to see that there are ‘common threads’ in the design needs of all of these people who use wheelchairs.” So Camilleri put her talents to work creating an entire line, complete with skirts, tops, coats, jeans, pants, and robes — along with thoughtful, practical accessories.

What makes her clothing unique

One of the several issues Camilleri considers as part of her design strategy is how each feature contributes to the ease of getting dressed. Items like zippers can pose a real challenge to people with limited mobility, especially if they do not have helpers to dress them. Strategic zipper placement thus became a trademark of Camilleri’s adaptive designs. Easier fasteners, such as hidden Velcro strips or magnetic buttons, became another.

examples of adaptive clothing

Many wheelchair users struggle to get into and out of coats, especially in public places without familiar helpers around. “Capes seem easier but they have their own issues and are not always the most attractive option,” says Camilleri. “For power chair users, some capes can interfere with the motor box.” Thanks to the information gained from the focus group and from her continual observation and research, Camilleri solves these issues with many different coat styles. For paraplegic wheelchair users, she offers coats cut in an L shape on each side, short in the back so as not to bunch up but with long front panels to keep the legs warm. For those with limited arm mobility, she offers coats with a “high back”—only a few inches of fabric and a short zipper—that allow helpers or even strangers to easily put on each of two warm side-front panels, button up the front, and then zip the pieces together behind neck and shoulders.

The capes Camilleri does design include considerate touches such as zippers at the side for ease of movement or even Velcro fasteners so the cape can be draped on easily but look like a dress coat. She also offers “arm socks” that match her short capes for added warmth. These accessories look like sweater sleeves but pull on and off like long, handless gloves.
The arm socks are just one type of innovative accessory Camilleri has made for wheelchair users. Those who wheel themselves in rainy or snowy conditions know how dirty sleeves can get. Camilleri realized that people needed protection for clothing sleeves, but in a form that would not obstruct a chair’s mechanical controls or get caught in the wheels. Camilleri drew inspiration from observing factory workers who dealt with machinery and began designing fashionable protectors that can keep sleeves from wrist to elbow clean and free from rips and tears.

The Izzy Camilleri Adaptive Clothing website features several videos that demonstrate the ease-of-use features Camilleri has built into her fashions. The videos can help wheelchair users visualize how Camilleri’s clothing could fit their specific needs.

Conquering a new fashion frontier

Recognizing how few fashion choices exist that are tailored to the needs of wheelchair users, Camilleri notes, “The formula for taking my patterns and adapting them to a seated frame was something I had to develop from scratch.” The client who started it all, Barbara Turnbull, states that ever since the adaptive clothing collection came online in 2009, “Izzy has been inundated with an unexpected flood of inquiries, orders, and appeals from the disabled community, and others, to extend her collection to include designs for men and children and increase retail availability. Every week brings thousands of hits on her website from around the world.” The website now also features coats, pants, tops, and even robes for men in wheelchairs.

Carolyn Pioro, one of IZ Adaptive’s customers, says in a web testimonial, “I embrace the freedom to define myself through my actions and my appearance. Thanks to the innovative IZ clothing line, there now exist [fashion] options that were never available to me before.”

Camilleri counts herself fortunate to have been featured in a number of publications, magazines and newspapers, but mentions that she would appreciate even more opportunities to share her line of clothing with the vast wheelchair-user community. On occasion, groups that specialize in adaptive equipment for people with disabilities include a link to her website on theirs. Several clients also find out about her clothing line through coverage in publications such as the Toronto Star or through Camilleri’s supporters at the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

T-shirts based on British artist Sophie Morgan's artSophie Morgan, a British artist, disability rights activist, and wheelchair user, is a spokesperson for IZ Adaptive Clothing. Creator of the IMperfect campaign, Morgan also models and has contributed one of her art pieces for the first T-shirt available at the IZ Adaptive online store. Proceeds from every t-shirt sale go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Accolades

Camilleri applies to her adaptive collection the same couture-like workmanship that has secured her a position as one of Canada’s preeminent designers. “Fashion and feedback determine what I produce in all of my lines each season,” she relates. “For IZ adaptive, I like to put together a fashion trend report and see how it applies so that my customers can make choices along with the fashion world. Simple fabric and or color changes can keep [wheelchair users] up-to-date” with anyone else who enjoys the latest fashions. However, Camilleri also features many classic designs that promise to stay in style for a long time. Her innovations in mainstream designs earned her the title of Designer of the Year in 2006.

Camilleri’s dream is to provide even more products, both online and through more retail outlets. “I’d love to have a store in New York, someday,” she says. Camilleri would also like to broaden her line. “Perhaps I could even match up with a shoe manufacturer in the future and offer shoes to people with disabilities,” she muses. Still, with the pieces Camilleri designs already, wheelchair users can look and feel like movie stars from head to toe.

To learn more about Izzy Camilleri’s other work view her website at:www.izzycamilleri.com.

www.izadaptive.com
info@izadaptive.com
416.860.0783
Toll Free: 1-866-831-0451
2955B Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON, M6P 1Z2

Testimonials

My name is Patti VanLandschoot and I have multiple sclerosis. I was extremely excited when I discovered Izzy and her adaptable clothing line. I immediately contacted her to see what she could do for me; I discovered the possibilities were endless and I couldn’t believe it that somebody had finally thought about all the trials and tribulations that a disabled person goes through trying to find proper fitted clothing.

Izzy has made me pants and a shirt but my favorite item she has made me so far is my winter coat. I now do not mind going out in my wheelchair in the winter. She has thought of all the little things required to make it extremely easy to get dressed, plus the clothing line is very stylish. Anyone who needs assistance with dressing, etc. needs to contact Izzy to make their life easier; I know she’s helped me!
— Patti VanLandschoot

I worked in the business world prior to my injury, [and] I dressed fashionably. I struggled to find suitable clothing for outings after my injury until I read an article in the Toronto Sun introducing Izzy Camilleri as a clothing designer for disabled people! I contacted Izzy and she has made me accessible pants, shirts, and jackets to suit my disability!
—Val Cleroux

 

Edited by Mary-Louise Piner.

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